Wednesday, March 11, 2009

a lesser known park in woodlands
- town park east




i had wondered if this is the place where hill 180 - the latest posting in goodmorningyesterday's blog - is located. i blogged about this place in may 2007 and today, i made my second visit to this relatively unknown and somewhat secluded park. i was not even aware that i could access it from the road next to the woodlands sports complex. according to my friend who lives in marsiling, hill 180 is found here. the other two parks in woodlands are the woodlands town garden and the admiralty park.

part of this park could have been a small rubber holding in the past because there are quite a number of rubber trees within the park. saw this tree with a lot of pods but with very few leaves.


the paths are lined with big boulders on both sides, much like the paths in the bukit panjang park, near petir road. actually, this kind of landscaping is quite a common feature in singapore parks. the main access to this park is via street 13. it is more convenient if you park between blocks 105 and 108. at the end of the car-park, a flight of steps will lead you to the first of the 104 steps to the top of the hill.



one unique feature in this park is the improvisation of granite slab, with a flat surface, as a stone bench. there are quite a number of these slabs by the edge, overlooking the blocks of flats. many of these surfaces have the markings left behind by students from the nearby secondary schools. these markings are usually declarations of juvenile love.


this is one of the block of flats seen from the top of the hill (180?). i think the residents here are quite accustomed to people at the park, on top of the hill, looking at or into their flats.



this is one place where you can literally look at the roof-top from the top. yes, you would be able to see the johor's skyline from here, if not for the taller blocks of flats obstructing the view.



this park does not have as many visitors as the other two parks in woodlands. the town garden gets quite a number of malaysian visitors and other people in 'transit', waiting to be picked up by company transport or waiting for the right time to report for work. the new admiralty park has a restaurant, which helps to draw the crowd.

these three boulders mark the highest point in woodlands town park east. there are also a few trees at the top of the hill.

4 comments:

Lam Chun See said...

I think I will make another visit to this Hill that holds a special place in my memories. The other day, it was quite rushed becos we needed to proceed to our second destination which was Hill 265, and there were dark clouds gathering.

You mention that you can park between blocks 105 & 108. But on the street directory there is no car park indicated?

yg said...

that's the best place to park because you can begin your ascent from there. from woodlands centre rd, you turn right into sts 13 & 11, i think. follow the road in and you will see a side road on your left along st 13, that's the car-park.

Lam Chun See said...

I went there this evening for some exercise and explored the area in more detail. Did you notice two big durian trees next to St 13? They were flowering profusely. On that side of the slope, the vegetation looked quite untouched by progress. I suspect if we did a bit of CSI there, can find old army training stuff like blanks and thunderflashes.

Took the opportunitiy to drive along Admiralty Road. I saw an Admiralty West Prison. Is that formerly the Malaysian Navy Camp.

yg said...

yes, durian trees everywhere in s'pore are flowering. i saw flowers on trees at mandai and at dairy farm.

yes, admiralty west prison is the former malaysian navy hq in s'pore. just next to it is the admiralty park.